Album Of The Day

2 This list has opened my mind up to some country music, but this really didn’t do it for me at all. It had more backing instrumentation to it than I was expecting, resulting in a sound that almost bordered on rock at times, but I think that was actually to the album’s detriment - it largely came off to me as feeling overproduced. I think I like my country music a bit more stripped back, and this is not that. At the very least, it should have some sort of interesting songwriting to grab me, and once again, this does not contain that either. Wtf is a Cornbread Moon? Boxcars at least made me think of Boxcar by Jawbreaker, and the opening reminded me of A Horse with No Name by America, but it was ultimately nowhere near as good as either of those tracks. The religious song sucked, and don’t even get me started on Fingernails… I physically cringed imagining the dude’s long, dirty-ass fingernails hitting the piano keys. This is also coming from a chronic nailbiter, so do with that what you will. Ultimately going with a 2 being that I didn’t find this outright terrible - this is one of those albums that I would say falls more under the “not for me” category than it does the objectionably “bad” category. Still, as someone who has Nashville as a bucket list destination, this is the exact kind of honky tonk I’d like to avoid.

There’s a couple tracks I liked, but isn’t really the kind of country music I usually go for. 5/10

Hmmm. Not for me.

This is tough, but not horrible enough to warrant a one

Honkey tonkey?

It's exactly what it says on the tin, so I can't fault it for that. A dull, uninspiring listen nonetheless.

Buen country setentero, pero el 78 iba por otros derroteros con discos que marcaron época: The Man Machine de Kraftwerk, debuts de Kate Bush, Pere Ubu, Magazine, , Public Image Ltd., Dire Straits, Police, The Only Ones, Devo, The Cars y Siouxsie and the banshees, (también Chris Rea y Midnight Oil), así como discos esenciales: C´est CHic, Plastic letters y Paralell Lines, Some Girls, This year´s model, Darkness on the Edge of Town, Incantations, Équinoxe, Ambient 1: Music for Airports, All mod cons, Some girls, One Nation Under A Groove, Outlandos d´amour los directos de Cheap Trick, Thin Lizzy, Bob Marley, AC-DC y The last waltz, e incluso Grease.

Kind of sounded like that song in team America world police, that goes “what would you do?”

Pretty chill twangy county. Not my cup of tea, not sure why it's on the list, but an okay listen.

It was alright, not really my jam tbh.

it was a bit boring tbh and I still haven't go a clue about what a honky tonk is, even though i have heard so many songs about them

Somewhere between “Trying to Do Too Much” and “Line Dancing Lessons on Groupon,” this record is a unique brand of bad. The opener, “Cornbread Moon,” sets us up for failure right away, bouncing between vibes in a way that feels dishonest for a country boy. The production is also as clean as a whistle. For 1978, this sounds as sharp as 1988, but that isn’t a compliment here. What should sound sincere and raw sounds workshopped and dishonest. Thankfully, the opener is the worst offender, although the whole record suffers from the shine of overproduction. “I’ll Be Your Fool” does have some of that vibe shift in its bridge, and “Boxcars” does not need that extra guitar up front, but at least “Boxcars” is a song that can win you over with hooks. To me, that’s the bigger issue here. Honky Tonk Masquerade is pretty much hookless. I’ll support “Boxcars” in a cheesy sort of way, and the title track does have something to it. Hell, I’ll even admit that I can gel with “Fingernails” for wholeheartedly being both silly and Nashville. The rest of this record, though, has very little to latch on to. Maybe if I liked this style of country more I’d be sold more easily, but like, I’ve been known to enjoy a Queer Line Dancing Night or two, so I think I can be broken by good quality honky tonk tunes. Joe Ely just doesn’t have any to offer me. I think “Jericho” and “Honky Tonkin’” are perhaps the two worst offenders, because they try to burn the barn with a wet matchbook. The entire rest of this record is slow dance country, with all the pathetic blandness of every romantic tune Nashville tried to churn out in the ‘80s. I think that might be the most frustrating thing about Honky Tonk Masquerade. For a Texas man, this screams Nashville in its emptiness, so much so that I wasn’t surprised to learn that it actually was recorded outside of Nashville. And that inauthenticity is palpable on every track of this record. I feel like I’m listening to a record any Joe Shmoe could’ve made. It just so happens that this Joe Shmoe was Joe Ely. Sure, he has his moments despite the production’s shine and basicness, but they are few and far between, and what’s between is more frustrating to listen to while you wait for something mediocre to come up.

hmprf

Ik ben gene country fan, maar ik heb geprobeerd. Klinkt wat te Amerikaans. 2.1

< the Beatles

primera canción jamás se me había ocurrido que se pudiera meter un acordeón a hacer punteos de roquerito, ahora entiendo perfectamente por qué. La segunda de repente me transporta a estar tomándome la quinta budweiser en la barra de un bar de nashville con señales de carretera en la pared y deprimentes luces de tonos rojos y morados, arropado por mi sombrero de cowboy, de ahí lo de honky-tonk, claro. Empieza la tercera y ya estoy hasta la p**la de este disco, aun quedan 7 temas, pero bueno la guitarrita esa que aparece primero en el 1:20 tiene un puntito, VUELVE EL ACORDEÓN, la echaba de menos, ahora hasta me gusta. Lo voy a acabar pero la review está hecha, el disco da lo que promete: las pivas nunca entendieron a los vaqueros, emborráchate, juega al billar, súbete al toro mecánico y reza para que no llegue terminator a pedirte amable pero taxativamente que le des tu ropa, tus botas y tu motocicleta.

Country blows, this not as much

It was forgettable

Absolutely nothing wrong with this, just not for me at all.

1.5 Got as far as the first 5 seconds of "I'll be your fool". I should get a medal of honour for that. Can we please have an option to filter country out of the list?

"Honky Tonk Masquerade" wasn't so bad! TBH country just isn't my thing but this was a very tolerable country album.

Meh

Ekki minn tebolli þó hann hafi verið vinur Strummer.

Eh, not my kind of country.

Right... Just how many "honky tonk" albums must this generator give me? I've really tried to keep an open mind and in some cases, but I'm really struggle. Buck Owens was a little interesting for breaking with tradition and influencing Johnny Cash. But now it seems that we've gone backwards from that with a return to traditional honky tonk country. Ok, I guess it's well made, production is clear, Ely throws in some unexpected choices like the odd accordian or electric guitar. But sorry, I just don't really see the appeal of this sub-genre. It has made me crave some cornbread though.

Honk honk

Nothing revolutionary for its time - in fact, I'd argue that it's a step backwards for 1978 - but it's perfectly passable as an average country-rock album. The production is slightly too clean to be from the 60s, but other than that, Joe Ely may as well be a spitting image of his predecessors. Even the slide guitar feels too perfect, too stereotypical, for me to unironically enjoy it. Instead, this is just kind of bland, empty, soulless stuff that fills an album-length of time adequately. Nothing more. In addition to the numbers of Spotify listens, which indicate that this band isn't popular, there's no way in heck Honky Tonk Masquerade belongs on a list of the 1000-odd most important albums in history. 2/5 Key tracks: Cornbread Moon, Boxcars

Fingernails was the only song on this album that I genuinely enjoyed listening to. I started skipping about half way. Giving it a 2 for making me stop skipping temporarily. When I don't know a genre, all I can fall back on is "did I find this interesting/entertaining to listen to", and this album failed pretty hard for me.

I’m not into country and had never heard of this. It was pleasant but forgettable.

I see your toes you little freak. This entire project is teaching me that, 99% of music made isn't bad, isn't good, it just is. Some folks might be struck a certain way by it, most folks won't be. That's alright. You don't have to enjoy everything. 2

I like country, I really like outlaw country. I was excited because I thought “hey I don’t know this one maybe it’s an uncovered gem!” It wasn’t. Surface album that’s only stand out point was how often I thought he was playing a different song, then came in with lyrics that were in fact not that song. Forgettable and I could have died without hearing it.

Good clean music - just don't love me honky tonk unless I am in Nashville, which I am not.

Meh

Honky tonk isn’t my thing, but “Boxcars” has a dark and interesting vibe. Nothing else stood out to me or broke through the trappings of the genre, but Ely has a good voice that fits well.

I feel like there's a story here. Robert Demery, the creator of 1001 Albums..., was reluctantly dragged out to a country bar by a friend where Joe Ely happened to be playing. Not wanting to be there, he drank a bit more whiskey than intended, and caught the eye of a not unattractive Joe Ely fan. Maybe he learned to line dance from said fan. By the end of the night, they were clinging drunkenly, sweatily and sexily to each other and could barely make it back to the fan's one room apartment before they were tearing their clothes off of each other. With strains of Honky Tonkin' throbbing in his ears, Demery had a night of love making the likes of which he had never before experienced and hasn't since. From that day on, he's held out that Joe Ely is a genius musician and one of the only "true" country artists. This story would be about the only reason I can discern why this album would be one of the few country albums on this list, as opposed to the literal thousands of others that would be more worthy.

Only tolerable because of some great guitar solos.

I had a very hard time believing my country ratings are above my overall average because of albums like this. But the I see the generator categorizes some albums as country that I don’t think of as country (CSN, The Eagles). Agree to disagree.

First song is a banger then it's all downhill from there. The fingernails one is extra weird.

Remarkably not offensive at all

If you liked this kind of stuff, I’d say it would be great. He has a good voice. However, I do not like this kind of stuff.

Really not up my alley making it hard to rate objectively.

Too much honky tonk.

I mean sure, ok. Wait, why is there an accordion? What is going on with this first song? It can't decide what it is. A few tracks in, everything is more or less as random, and I don't know why I'm listening to this, so I'm going to stop trying to work it out and instead tell you about retired professional wrestler, the Honky Tonk Man. The Honky Tonk Man once had the longest Intercontinental Title reign in WWF history, at 454 days. He held this record for over 35 years, when it was finally broken by a far superior performer, Gunther, in 2023. The match when Honky dropped the title to the Ultimate Warrior at Summerslam '88 is objectively funny, and extremely short, go check it out. Honky would dress as an overweight Elvis with a huge face and terrible hair, and twat people with guitars and generally cheat to win or DQ to keep the title, which is obviously good heel work. I had a feeling he would be a massive bell end in real life but I cannot find any solid evidence for this (other than the fact he has maintained that hairstyle to this day, but I guess it is his livelihood) and so I will therefore not state it.

southern accent, steel guitar, the usual. First 10 seconds promising, but then it changes and is just run of the mill country

I enjoy the honky tonk mix of country and rock to an extent. A few redeeming qualities, but some of those sad wind songs were too much.

I do enjoy the sound of a steel guitar. This album didn't wear my patience down as much as other country music, but nah, still not a fan of this genre. Might be fine if you're out dancing a two-step (in small doses).

This one is tough to decide. I am generally not a fan of country, but this isn't the usual country: there's some inventive stuff going on here, with a lightness without the usual twanginess. I liked Boxcars and Cornbread Waltz was pretty good. I disliked both the imagery and vocals of Fingernails, but the tune is a bit of an earworm, and it is a fairly original set of lyrics despite being distasteful. I did not like Because of the Wind because I didn't like the instrument, although stepping past that, it was a reasonable representation of wind. Tonight I Think I'm Going Downtown was the most stylisticly like the country I don't like. Hard to decide: I might listen to a couple of these again, but I probably won't seek out the album overall. Strong 2 stars, but just not quite enough for 3.

At least the album title accurately described what was coming...

Just not for me.

Three or four nice songs but the rest are pretty run-of-the-mill and non-memorable. 4/10

Honky Tonk has to be the corniest sub genre of country around. I literally cannot distinguish between singers or songs in the genre.

Just country music to me. Fairly inoffensive, but not my style.

I've listened to enough honky tonk on this list to know it ain't for me.

Blind album and artist. This Honky tonking man better Honky tonk outta my brain and make me forget my askewed jive this morning from musical whiplash.

A couple of grooves, but not really my kinda honky tonk.

Ok country.

Classic country. Not really my style, but it's certainly well executed.

It all merged into one for me. Not really feeling it.

1970s honky tonk with a Texas focus - not my style at all, but I guess it's okay if you like the genre (a la boot-scootin' boogie)

Didn't feel like there was a lot to this one

First listen. Nah.

Pleasant background noise

Not for me. Sophomoric lyrics and totally predictable melodies. Some creativity in the guitar playing but for the most part it's just par for the course honky-tonk/country.

Well made and fun, but not crazy good by any means. Doesn't feel like a landmark album for anything. Favorites were Boxcars and Fingernails

Why is this album on the list?

Jakie jest country każdy widzi. A to nawet, moim zdaniem, nie jest jakieś dobre country. Chłopiec z gitarą i niewiele więcej. 5/10 zaokrąglone w dół, bo czas zacząć się szanować.

Boxcars is a solid song, so is Jericho, though Cornbread Moon is just silly. Though this delivers on the promise of honky tonk for sure. I mean good god they say it enough in the lyrics.

Didn't really like this. It had a lot of elements that I might usually enjoy, but they were not put together in way I enjoyed. 2/5

country né pra mim não papo reto

Just not good enough to be on here...

Turns out I don't like honky tonk music. I guess it was short and a couple of the tracks weren't too awful, so I'm going with 2 stars.

C+ country. The Texas Waltz was fun, but other than that there is nothing here for me that I’ll be coming back to.

What the shit is going on here lads? That’s like a moog synth pretending to be an accordion or something? Weird. And then it settles down to standard boring country. Not my thing.

Exactly what the title implies. Completely mediocre. 2.5/5

This was a bit too country for me.

Meh american rock country

Honky Tonk 2/5

If you’re gonna country, you might as well full country.

Not Bad. Just C&W

Makes me want to eat grits and spit tobacco. But as a tofu eating member of the European wokerati, this is not a good thing.

There are two genres of popular music that I really don't care for, probably because of cultural background. The first of this is hip hop, and the second is country and western music. My heart sank a little when this album came up, particularly since I aim to listen to each album two or three times. Perhaps mercifully, this one is only 33 minutes long. Aside from the tooth-grating C&W flourishes such as yodels and pedal steel, the album is at its best when Joe Ely is rocking out. Unfortunately those moments are all too fleeting. I can't really rate this particularly highly, though I note from Wikipedia that Ely was quite broadminded when it comes to crossing genre boundaries. I think this and subsequent albums may have been more influential than I know - for example on The Clash's growing interest in Americana.

Decent for that type of music.

Honky Tonk - it's a waste of good musicians.

I don't hate it. But I don't like it.

någon nånstans kallade det här för progressiv country och någonstans kan jag väl höra det, det är inte 100 % rak country, en lite pluspoäng för det.

This is a masquerade alright! I tried to keep an open mind, but I don’t see at all why this album is on the list. Two stars because it might be the best honky tonk out there.

I honestly thought I was going to like this a lot more. It's just ok.

At best I wasn’t completely annoyed by this… until Fingernails came on which just grossed me out.

Not really my thing.

Reminds me of the music my mom would put on when we had to clean the house on the weekend. Not horrible, but not something I'd choose to listen to on my own.

Classic country. Not my thing, but didn't hate it

I'm learning that the early '80s, And the late '70s leading into the early '80s was a pretty distinctive era, regardless of the music genre. It's crazy how you can hear it even in country western. This was fine, dated though.

Sounds corny most of the time, but there are a few instrumental moments that gets interesting here and there, mainly the use of a moog, which I don't really remember hearing on a country album

This guy clearly didn't shoot the sheriff.

I'm sure this man has never urinated on a railway or jumped from a moving train.

Honestly, not my thing.

I did not enjoy this

Folk country aburrido.

I hate this genre so much soz I was so bored

🥱😴

Listenable, but old fashioned country music is not really my jam. 2,5

Late 70's Honky Tonk..........FFS I've just listened to Throbbing Gristle before this. My head is messed up but this is so mainstream it could be a theme tune to a corny 80's TV show. I can't bring myself to hate it though and I truly love Joe.

4/10 Look, this was very well made country rock, I get it, but it just wasn’t for me. Good voice, nice mixture of traditional and modern instruments, nice vibe to the whole thing. Just not for me. Best: Jericho

Some okay stuff here, but I wouldn't doubt if you could trace today's (mostly) terrible country music to this.

I can tolerate a little country, but not this.

Keeps those fingernails long so he can make that chalkboard sing. Nice to have my ears bleed a little before I die.

If I was in a pub in Tennessee I'm sure I would want to listen to this music. But I couldn't be any further away from there, so it is just basic background music which is nice, but not something I would revisit again.

I'm a huge fan of classic country. There's nothing memorable about this album.

I don't understand how it is that, whenever the words "Honky Tonk" are uttered, ot makes the song sound exactly the same as every other song that uses the same phrase. At least this album has some scattering of more unique lyrics and instrumentation scattered about, but not enough to raise it much in my estimation. Preferred track: probably "Boxcars."

Honky Tonk Masquerade is a disappointing end to a fairly good week, it's prosaic country with a bit more tempo to it, fun at times (Cornbread Moon, I'll Be Your Fool) but really it's not anything special (Fingernails is enjoyable too but it's a standard blues shuffle you've heard from hundreds of acts) and we've had better country or country-adjacent albums. Probably only a high 2, I don't care for it much.

Another filler album, without the decency of at least having one big hit on it. Pretty generic country plus (the plus being a bit more energy and more of a backing band), but, yeah, nothing we've not had better before. 2/5.

A lot of country.. too much for me

Yeah, nah. Really? Why is this on the list? The mind boggles.

It's ok but it doesn't speak to my heart the way other country music does.

I tough it was just another country album from a singer not so well known when i received it. I was correct this time but it at least contaims some sparklings of old rock n roll. It ewas fun to see these signs with good guitar work.

2 fine but forgettable

First two songs had me thinking that this album was going to be pretty bad but Boxcars brought me back into the fold. That was the best track. The rest was underwhelming

Middling

Not my thing

another one that leaves you wondering why this album is on the list

Not my cup of tea. Sounds like something that would playing out of a tinny radio at a backroad truck stop

Not really into that American country vibe. But did feel transported to that local watering hole where the country folk hang.

Had some witty lyrics but didn't really leave an impression on me.

Pretty generic country album. A mix of blues, country and some folk. It honestly didn't make a great impression. Probably Boxcars was the best track but I can't remember much of it even though I tried. Strong 2, maybe just not in the mood for country today.

Fine. Good for country

Boring

Not bad I just don't care

This isn’t terrible. I actually liked “Boxcars”. But overall it was a tough 33 minutes to get through.

Horrendous

I like my redneck shit but this ain't it

Vähän liian toisistaan irrallisia tarinoita, liian arkkityyppimeininkiä. Onko mussa vikaa, kun en kuule tässä omaa, kiinnostavaa ääntä. Joe ei saa mua kuuntelemaan juttujaan.

Tämän levyn soundissa on sofistikoituneisuutta, joka ikävä kyllä toimii sen toimivuutta vastaan. Ensi kuulemalta kovinkaan paljoa kappaleiden varsinaisesta sisällöstä ei jäänyt mieleen. Mutta taitavia kantrimuusikoita.

Really enjoyed 'Boxcars' - listened to it about 4 times, but rest of the album is your run of the mill honkytonk. 2.5 stars.

not much to say

Fingernails is a jam, probably won't be coming back to the album though.

Fun, but just not really my thing. Starts pretty slow, but the songs get more interesting and upbeat towards the end. 2.5/5 Probably won’t listen again

Generic and kind of awkward

Just not my taste, can't do honky tonk country no matter how good it is.

70’er country, ok, men heller ikke overvældende

Pas trop ma came - peut être si j'avais un pick-up de ricain avec un grand chapeau et des kilomètres de route à faire défiler ça serait le mood, en attendant pas trop

Folk country aburrido.

Honky tonky Bob Denvery

This was the country sound I have feared every time there has been a country record on here. Nothing I connect with.

When I’m a minute in and counting down 33 to go that ain’t good. Appreciate the short run time though.

Overproduced country that tries to play all sides: soft pop, hard rock, and folky outlaw country. It's fairly standard but fluffs it up by doing some things weird and different like unusual instrument choices, genre fusions, or unexpected chord changes. It works ok, and definitely stands out a bit from peers, but I'm not seeing any reason to revisit. It was short and had various styles with pleasant melodies, so it was easy to listen to and enjoy. Favorites: Cornbread Moon, Boxcars

I'm not a honky tonker, sorry.

Too much honking, too much tonking, too much country.

I’m not a big fan of country music but I did enjoy Because of the Wind and Boxcars.

4.5/10

I may have heard of Joe before this but not 100% sure. Certainly didn't know this album or any of the song except "Fingernails" which I heard covered by Marcia Ball. Not too bad of an album. However, I doubt it will make my regular rotation.

I'm British, so Country is not a genre I'm familiar with or particularly understand. This is OK, it sounds nice enough, but I'm not remembering a single track, and I only listened to it 20 minutes ago. It's a low 3, but still a 3.

This album is trying to be too many things. It walks a line between pop, western country, gospel, blues, and Texas country and it is just too much. Also the choice of synth and accordion were kinda bizarre. The 80s were truly on the horizon.

They did not lie re: Honky Tonk. A little too much for mine, though I guess I can see the proto alt-country in some of this.

Most C&W albums are one stars, this scrapes a two

Boah wieder so alte handgemacht Rockmusik. Rhythm and Blues und Country. Schnarch. Ach, so schlimm ist es gar nicht Ich war eben aber genervt vom Wäscheaufhängen.

Not enough haw to my yee (medio whack) - Mari Yeehaw, we got some cornbread, we got some incest and most of all we got some long ass nails for the banjos, welcome to Alabama - alex

idk very very country western. 2 stars. Just not part of any culture that gives me feels. A good album to line dance too, but thats where it begins and ends for me.

"Boxcars" is actually kind of interesting. You could tell me it was written by a mid 2000s folk rock band like The Decemberists or Murder By Death and I would totally believe you. "I'll Be Your Fool" is kind of fun. "Fingernails" is dumb, but also a low-key banger. There's even some interesting use of Moog synths on this album which is not usually something I associate with this kind of glossed up, modern country. That's it. That's everything nice I have to say about it.

This was masquerading as honky tonk music. Couldn't help myself.

Good voice, well produced, but I rally cant remember any of the songs after listening through it. Not my cup of tea.

I have a Pavlovian response to hearing a slide guitar - I immediately want to punch the speakers and listen to anything else. That I didn't do it for this record says something I guess, but it's still too twee and country for me.

I hate weepy steel guitar so much. It's one of the many reasons I tend to dislike country music. That and the syrupy-thick, sad-sack lyrics. This album as both of those hated elements in spades. I'm willing to admit that this is probably a good representation of the genre. But I hated it.

Country ist einfach nicht meins, gibt wenige Ausnahmen, aber dieses Album gehört nicht dazu.

Cornbread Moon, as the opener was a bit too C&W cringey and twangy. That being said, vocals and guitar work are pretty good. Unfortunately the album, bar one track, is too C&W for my liking, so it's a 2.

Pretty major country sound, not my tempo.

Cornbread Moon und Boxcars (Cooler "train whistle" sound mit der Mundharmonika) beste Tracks Rest leider recht langweiliges und generisches Country-Allerlei Honkey Tonk scheint wohl mal n Ding gewesen zu sein

Ganz ok. Gibt aber anderen Country, der mir deutlich mehr zusagt und interessanter ist, z.B. Townes Van Zandt.

not rly into it

If you look up honky tonk in the dictionary, this album comes up… “I keep my fingernails long so they click when I play piano” is an ear worm. Dad’s review: “taste is objective”

Masquerading as a country record. Ended up listening to Waylon & Willie instead.

Songs about cornbread, fingernails and honky tonkin' aren't really my thing. Still better than modern country

Is "corny" short for corn-fed? I'm European and I don't know what this is.

Ugggh! Honky cowpoke music for Christmas? When did I pick up the zoink gift in the White Elephant exchange? Gross. This is not what I wanted. I had my eye on that Rumours album as a special holiday treat. Foiled by Joe who-even-is-this?? Ely though.

Du country rock bien correct. Bien exécuté mais rien de marquant, je n'y reviendrai probablement jamais. 5/10

Ya gotcherself two kindsa country music. There's yer moonshine swigging, pork 'n beans, bare-knuckle boxin', rootin' tootin' country, and there's yer studded cowboy boots, F1 cars and fried food at the rodeo country. I tend to lean towards the former myself, but ol' Joe here makes country of the latter variety. He does do some interesting things with it, "Boxcars" is a nice example of pushing the boundaries of commercial country, and his guitar playing is decent, but for the most part the misses outnumber the hits. 2 cornbread moons out of 5 🌕🌕

Americans love this glossy soulless country bollocks. Vapid nonsense that sounds the same as every other country twangy album. Nope.

The nice thing about this is the sweet spot between rock and roll (Fingernails) and country (Honky Tonk Masquerade). The other thing is that it's not that distinctive. I can see why he went on tour with The Clash, and enjoyed listening, but no real desire to add to playlist. Also very short and sharp. Sidebar: some of these tracks have 3,000 spotify streams. Even notorious 1001-ers like Kollaps and Duck Stab/Buster and Glen have streams in the many 10,000's - making him I guess one of the most obscure artists on this list.

Not bad but country

very country

Not alt enough.

Not good.

Kinda boring country. Definitely better than some country, but nothing I would say I liked. First song had me a little hopeful, but the rest wasn't as good. My favourite song was Cornbread Moon.

had some cajun themes liked it overall but prolly not gonna come back for any listens

Pierwsza całkiem niezła, dalej nope

Southern country bar music, not my thing

Mij is volstrekt onduidelijk waarom ik dit voor mijn dood gehoord moet hebben.

Om mijn lieftallige echtgenote te quoten: 'Dit is gezapig as fuck'.

Blaah, melkonen rosvosektori työpäivän taustamusaksi. Ehkä tällekin vois löytyä oma aika ja paikka.

Meh, nää kantrihommat on jo kyllä kuultu

Not my thing honestly. A little fun to listen to but not something I'd choose to unless I was at a cowboy bar.

Eh. Honky tonk is right, and while I'm usually all in favor of a departure, this one didn't take me someplace I enjoy. Instead I was in a bar with a loud guy performing songs too lively for the hour. Not bad music per se, but one trick pony if you ask me. A couple I enjoyed (and I love the song about going downtown, I refuse to believe that isn't innuendo), but overall, bit of a dud for me. Favorite tracks: Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown, Boxcars. Album art: I swear I'd seen this before, or maybe something just like it, but I thought it was for some Americana rock act. Definitely wasn't this guy that I heard. It's a pretty decent pic, as far as band pics/portraits go. But not much to talk about. 2.5/5

easy listening, not my jam

Not really my thing, definitely won't revisit. 2.5

Decent country

some not exciting country

Another meh and slightly corny country album.

2.5

2.5 Honkytonk is not a favorite of mine.

This was ok, didn't fully do it for me though. Call it a 2.5.

I don’t mind blue grass/ country music and this was alright but didn’t make me want to listen again so a harsh 2*

Fairly bog standard country.

Downloaded one song - Honky Tonkin’. Like country and this era but didn’t find too much on this album that caught my attention. Might see if he has anything else that I might like. I checked and did not find anything.

What's the opposite of ASMR? Fingernails and the slide guitar in Because of the Wind are so bad they'd make baby jesus cry. I did enjoy Boxcars tho.

not my favorite kind of country

Unfortunately, I seem to have misplaced my chaps and cowboy boots.

Anything that uses the phrase ‘honky tonk’ is never going to be for me, but the first half of this album was actually pretty darn good - the straight/swing switch-ups of the opener were fun, the production was solid and it was overall a good listen. Unfortunately everything after the title track was garbage

Standard chord structures, predictable lyrics, nothing to see here.

Genres: Country rock Formed: 1977 (solo) Run time: 10 songs, 33 min, 32 sec The second album by the singer-songwriter. Spotify: Least popular song: <2000 Most popular song: almost 389k plays. Seven of the ten tracks have less than 5k plays on Spotify. Ely does a great job of painting a picture with his lyrics. The songs are often mournful and a little whimsical. The general theme is that of dealing with life’s struggles. The songs are OK but they don’t stand out against any of the other country artists then or now. Listen Again?: No My Rating: **

I found this very beige and quite irritating tbh! Not my bag at all. Very repetitive in style.

Not great. I don't mind country when it's got a bit of pazzazz but this was boring. In fact, one good song came on and I thought 'oh this is pretty good' then looked and the album had finished and it was playing someone else haha

(audible sigh) I suppose it wasn’t that bad, and it was a shortish album making it less of a chore. 2.5 stars.

Ok

Nope to the honky tonk.

Joe Ely seems to have played with everyone. Band mates have gotten around too. Not my thing though

It was ok, nothing special for me, didn't playlist any songs. Plenty of better country out there.

Goh - NIet de grootste Countryfan

Did not know this album before. I understand it is a classic in its genre (Allmusic: 5, Christgau: A, Rolling Stone: 4.5) and it sounds very competent to me, but I won't be listening to it again.

2 good songs and a bunch of shit

Lively, bouncy country. Good fun, but not my cup of tea at all

ahooo

Ik geef me volledig over aan deze lijst in de hoop m'n horizon te verbreden, dus er zijn een x aantal kansen om me te overtuigen dat er vroeger wél goede country werd gemaakt. Dan moet je dit soort dingen eigenlijk weglaten. 10 tracks waarvan er 7 minder dan 3500 streams hebben op Spotify, dus zelfs de country fans zijn dit denk ik met me eens. Het is niet verschrikkelijk, maar het is ook zeker niet goed. De productie voelt wat goedkoop (ondanks dat het een remaster is) en ons Joe zingt eigenlijk steeds net niet zuiver. Z'n stem klinkt wat dun.

Con este nombre está más o menos claro lo que incluye y tal como empieza no hay dudas. Honky Tonk. Con media hora entretenida no da tiempo a muchas quejas. Pero en general prescindible.

Meh

But too country, although I liked Boxcars

Todella kädenlämpöistä, jopa kliseistä kantria. Ei koko levyllistä jaksais, 2/5.

Country and I don't resonate at all.

Not a big fan of country...

Not for me

It was ok. Joe Ely- liked cornbread moon Nice slide solo on because of the wind Box car- kind of a cool vibe. Cool harmonized guitar lines Jericho- like the half time part 2.5

This made me cringe.

Not a great lover of country, it's ok

Starting with the first track some of this was honking. Some albums clearly just get on the list to tick a genre box

This contributes to my influential doesn't equal good belief. He certainly may have influenced a lot of music I like, or maybe they were influenced by the same people. I appreciate the mix of country/blues/big band but it's an artist that was almost good. Fingernails was just bad. Erica: it's country. It's hard for me to be objective.

not sure that i buy much of what Joe Ely is selling on Honky Tonk Masquerade (not that he has that much to offer in the first place): the record is loaded with corny evocations of lower class midwestern quirks that Ely beats to the ground until they become indistinctive. it starts off strong, with its first three songs rich and full of color. “Boxcars” is the best thing on here — it fully captures the Ely’s vivid storytelling and complex country rock compositions. but every song following that is cheesier than the one before, and eventually they all begin to droll along. there are some last minute highlights, of course, like “Fingernails” or the title track, where Ely just goes off and has the time of his life. but as a non-country fan, Honky Tonk Masquerade unfortunately does not prove itself to be the record to make me a convert, but oh well…

This was not a great listen for me, an adherent of "Any Music but Country".

It started and I went hmmmm, then there were a couple of moments early on when I thought that this might take off in an unexpected direction, but it didn't.

country. very ok, but not something i would listen to again i think

Some really horrible cliched country, but then there are songs like Boxcars, which is brilliant, and Fingernails, which is a great piece of rockabilly.

1 stern

Cornbread Moon is a great title for a parody of this guy's music. I think my main feedback to him would be to use the phrase Cornbread Moon less often if he wants me to take him seriously.

I'm just not into country. I'm sure it's a 5 for those that are.

Just reading "honky tonk" leaves such an unpleasant taste in my mouth. I read that it's comparable to the Redheaded Stranger, which meant it can't be that bad, and hit play. The first track was on the right track for about a second before it turned into something I didn't need. Eventually I gathered the positive quality lies heavily in the talented use of instruments and the production. It's not difficult to leave playing in the background. It's definitely not attractive because of the quality of the lyrics, which leave a lot to be said for me, if not for the music picking up when the lyrics find no way out. 1.2/5

Honky Tonk Masquerade

Joe Ely

Reviews (page 6 of 7)